Professional development is an important component of graduate medical education, but it is unclear how to best deliver this instruction. Book clubs have been used outside of medicine as a professional development tool. We sought to create and evaluate a virtual professional development book club for emergency medicine interns.
We designed and implemented a virtual professional development book club during intern orientation. Afterward, participants completed an evaluative survey consisting of Likert and free-response items. Descriptive statistics were reported. We analyzed free-response data using a thematic approach.
Of 15 interns who participated in the book club, 12 (80%) completed the evaluative survey. Most (10/12; 83.3%) agreed or strongly agreed that the book club showed them the importance of professional development as a component of residency training and helped them reflect on their own professional (11/12; 91.7%) and personal development (11/12; 91.7%). Participants felt the book club contributed to bonding with their peers (9/12; 75%) and engagement with the residency program (9/12; 75%). Our qualitative analysis revealed five major themes regarding how the book club contributed to professional and personal development alignment with developmental stage; deliberate practice; self-reflection; strategies to address challenges; and communication skills.
A virtual book club was feasible to implement. Participants identified multiple ways the book club positively contributed to their professional development. These results may inform the development of other book clubs in graduate medical education.
A virtual book club was feasible to implement. Participants identified multiple ways the book club positively contributed to their professional development. These results may inform the development of other book clubs in graduate medical education.Medical and physician assistant (PA) students are often required to have Basic Life Support (BLS) education prior to engaging in patient care. Given the potential role of students in resuscitations, it is imperative to ensure that current BLS training prepares students to provide effective cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The objective of this study was to assess whether current BLS training produces student providers who can deliver BLS in an American Heart Association (AHA) guideline-adherent manner.
Students at a US medical school were recruited by convenience sampling. BLS performance immediately following a standard AHA BLS training course was evaluated during a two-minute CPR cycle using manikins. We also collected information on demographics, previous BLS training attendance, perceived comfort in providing CPR, and prior experiences in healthcare and providing or observing CPR.
Among 80 participants, we found that compression rate, depth, and inter-compression recoil were AHA guideline-adhereventilation volumes represent areas of improvement. Conducting regular practice and involving students in real-life CPR may improve performance.Acute stress may impair cognitive performance and multitasking, both vital in the practice of emergency medicine (EM). Previous research has demonstrated that board-certified emergency physicians experience physiologic stress while working clinically. We sought to determine whether EM residents have a similar stress response, and hypothesized that residents experience acute stress while working clinically.
We performed a prospective observational study of physiologic stress including heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), and subjective stress in EM residents during clinical shifts in the emergency department. HR and HRV were measured via 3-lead Holter monitors and compared to baseline data obtained during weekly educational didactics. Subjective stress was assessed before and after clinical shifts via a Likert-scale questionnaire and written comments.
We enrolled 21 residents and acquired data from 40 shifts. Residents experienced an increase in mean HR of eight beats per minute (P &lt; 0.001) identify characteristics that contribute to acute stress and to elicit targeted educational interventions to mitigate the acute stress response.Despite the burdens that resident attrition places upon programs and fellow trainees, emergency medicine (EM) as a specialty has only begun to explore the issue. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/yum70.html Our primary objectives were to quantify attrition in EM residency programs and elucidate the reasons behind it. Our secondary objectives were to describe demographic characteristics of residents undergoing attrition, personal factors associated with attrition, and methods of resident replacement.
We conducted a national survey study of all EM program directors (PDs) during the 2018-2019 academic year. PDs were asked to identify all residents who had left their program prior to completion of training within the last four academic years (2015-2016 to 2018-2019), provide relevant demographic information, select perceived reasons for attrition, and report any resident replacements. Frequencies, percentages, proportions, and 95% confidence intervals were obtained for program- and resident-specific demographics. We performed Fisher's exact tests to compare reasons for attrition between age groups.
Of 217 PDs successfully contacted, 118 completed the questionnaire (response rate of 54%). A third of programs (39 of 118) reported at least one resident attrition. A total of 52 residents underwent attrition. Attrition was most likely to occur prior to completion of two years of training. Gender and underrepresented minority status were not associated with attrition. Older residents were more likely to leave due to academic challenges. The most common reported reason for attrition was to switch specialties. Resident replacement was found in 42% of cases.
One-third of programs were affected by resident attrition. Gender and underrepresented minority status were not associated with attrition.
One-third of programs were affected by resident attrition. Gender and underrepresented minority status were not associated with attrition.The average number of applications per allopathic applicant to emergency medicine (EM) residency programs in the United States (US) has increased significantly since 2014. This increase in applications has caused a significant burden on both programs and applicants. Our goal in this study was to investigate the drivers of this application increase so as to inform strategies to mitigate the surge.
An expert panel designed an anonymous, web-based survey, which was distributed to US allopathic senior applicants in the 2017-2018 EM match cycle via the Council of Residency Directors in Emergency Medicine and the Emergency Medicine Residents Association listservs for completion between the rank list certification deadline and release of match results. The survey collected descriptive statistics and factors affecting application decisions.
A total of 532 of 1748 (30.4%) US allopathic seniors responded to the survey. Of these respondents, 47.3% felt they had applied to too many programs, 11.8% felt they had applied to too few, and 57.